Public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane has appealed to President Cyril Ramaphosa to intervene in her standoff with public enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan.
She accuses the minister of trying to "interfere" in her probe into the SA Revenue Service’s (Sars) alleged rogue unit.
Ramaphosa’s spokesperson Khusela Diko on Sunday declined to comment on the April 30 letter sent by Mkhwebane to the president, in which she accuses Gordhan of "not offering much assistance and co-operation" after she tried to "elicit some information and documentation" from him.
"I consider Mr Gordhan’s conduct throughout these investigations not protective and helpful towards the public protector to ensure its independence and impartiality."
The letter was a latest salvo in the conflict between Mkhwebane and Gordhan, a vital Ramaphosa ally in the president’s fight to undo the damage done to the economy mostly in the past 10 years. Having a top minister in his fight against state capture "refusing to co-operate" with a state institution such as the public protector could also embarrass Ramaphosa, coming two days before the election.
The standoff with the public protector has largely been attributed to a fightback campaign by close associates of former president Jacob Zuma, who was forced to resign after a series of corruption scandals.
The minister has argued the rogue unit allegations were sufficiently dealt with in various legal forums and were found to be untrue. With Gordhan openly accusing Mkhwebane of abuse of office and her suing intelligence minister Dipuo Letsatsi-Duba over her alleged interference, it appears that top ministers are at war with the public protector and do not believe she is exercising her powers without fear or favour.
But, with Ramaphosa himself under investigation by Mkhwebane over whether he lied to parliament about Bosasa CEO Gavin Watson’s funding of his ANC election campaign, his intervention in the saga could carry some form of backlash.
During his evidence before the Zondo commission, Gordhan stated that Mkhwebane’s probe was part of the "misuse and abuse of public powers for suspicious objectives". He later accused Mkhwebane of being "deceptive" in her claims that he had not responded to her office’s inquiries between February and July 2018. But Mkhwebane insists that it is a "legitimate" probe into "several complaints, including alleged violation of the executive ethics code" — lodged against Gordhan by EFF deputy president Floyd Shivambu.
She has now urged Ramaphosa to "intervene", as she regards Gordhan’s conduct "to be at odds with … the constitution". Gordhan’s office maintains that he has made a "number of requests for information and "requests for explanations" to the public protector.
Her letter emerged after her attorney last week confirmed that she had taken Letsatsi-Duba to court over her alleged interference in the Sars investigation.
The minister laid criminal charges against Mkhwebane over her possession of a top- secret 2014 inspector-general of intelligence report into the Sars rogue unit. Mkhwebane is now seeking an order that Letsatsi-Duba has shown contempt for her office and violated the constitution. These latest developments will only fuel the constitutional crisis imploding in the office of the public protector.
Mkhwebane is also facing legal action from water and sanitation minister Gugile Nkwinti, who is seeking an urgent order to prevent the release of a report in which she found he had abused his position as minister in the 2011 acquisition of a farm in Limpopo.
Nkwinti’s interdict application will be heard in the high court in Pretoria on Monday.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.